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Overview

Written by the world-renowned pioneer in the field of modern sociolinguistics, this volume examines the cognitive and cultural factors responsible for linguistic change, tracing the life history of these developments, from triggering events to driving forces and endpoints. Explores the major insights obtained by combining sociolinguistics with the results of dialect geography on a large scale Examines the cognitive and cultural influences responsible for linguistic change Demonstrates under what conditions dialects diverge from one another Establishes an essential distinction between transmission within the community and diffusion across communities Completes Labov's seminal Principles of Linguistic Change trilogy.

What People Are Saying

From the Publisher

The culminating volume in Labov's magnum opus on language variation and change will assure forever his indelible imprint on the field of linguistics. Thanks to Labov, the field should never be the same."
— Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University

"William Labov completes his monumental study of sound change by examining the forces that drive divergence and convergence in neighboring communities. His impeccable attention to detail is illuminated, as always, by his sensitivity to the social, communal and personal motives that lie behind the ways in which we talk to one another."
— J.K. Chambers, University of Toronto

"Labov's inexhaustible creative wellspring produces a fountain of insight and essential reading for all scholars concerned with language as a dynamic social organism. This volume assembles elements of his work into a grand mosaic: a work of science, but also a work of art."
— Gregory R. Guy, New York University

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The culminating volume in Labov's magnum opus on language variationand change will assure forever his indelible imprint on the fieldof linguistics. Thanks to Labov, the field should never be thesame."
— Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University

"William Labov completes his monumental study of sound change byexamining the forces that drive divergence and convergence inneighboring communities. His impeccable attention to detail isilluminated, as always, by his sensitivity to the social, communaland personal motives that lie behind the ways in which we talk toone another."
— J.K. Chambers, University of Toronto

"Labov's inexhaustible creative wellspring produces a fountainof insight and essential reading for all scholars concerned withlanguage as a dynamic social organism. This volume assembleselements of his work into a grand mosaic: a work of science, butalso a work of art."
— Gregory R. Guy, New York University

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

William Labov is Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Linguistics Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania. His major studies include The Social Stratification of English in New York City (1966), Sociolinguistic Patterns (1972), Language in the Inner City (1972), Principles of Linguistic Change: Internal Factors (Wiley-Blackwell, 1994) and Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 2: Social Factors (Wiley-Blackwell, 2001). With S. Ash and C. Boberg, he published the Atlas of North American English in 2006.

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